From the archives of the Grout Museum of History & Science, Waterloo, IA

Crystal Distribution Services began operations in the late 1800's.

The main function of the company at the time, was the harvesting and cutting of ice off of the Cedar River, for use in the preservation of perishable foods. The J.A. Young family of Waterloo operated several ice houses in the city, and gradually shifted them toward cold storage buildings. The Young Ice Arena in Waterloo is named for this prominent family.

In 1979, the Young's sold the ice and cold storage business to Crystal Distribution Services. At the time, Crystal Ice & Cold Storage, as it was called, operated two buildings with less than 500,000 cubic feet of space. Today, after several acquisitions, and a name change, Crystal Distribution Services operates over 5,000,000 cubic feet of warehousing space.

The company now has a total of three (3) locations in Black Hawk County, including the former Rath Packing Company plant in Waterloo. A new 55,000 square foot freezer and office complex was completed in June 1999.